Author Archives: Alex Cole-Hamilton

Our correspondent in Scotland: Minority Report

By Alex Cole-Hamilton | 15th March 2008 - 7:45 am

A look at the landscape of Scottish Politics after 10 months of SNP minority control…

Scotland is a very different place right now. Oh the lochs are still there, you can still drink your way from lowlands to highlands on the whisky trail (at a slightly higher premium thanks to the Chancellor) and the haggis hunting season is about to start once again in earnest, but the old order changeth.

Following the introduction, by Liberal Democrat MSPs, of STV for local government elections, Labour lost control of many fiefdoms that it had ruled with an Iron fist for a generation. The roll …

Posted in Scotland | 8 Comments

The shifting sands of Scottish politics

By Alex Cole-Hamilton | 11th September 2006 - 2:35 pm

Alex Cole-Hamilton recently topped the mid Scotland and Fife regional list for next year’s Scottish Parliament elections – giving him a very good chance of being a Lib Dem MSP from next May. For Lib Dem Voice he tells us how he reached the top of the list, and what the future looks like for the Liberal Democrats in Scotland.

It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but as top of the mid Scotland and Fife regional list I could well be the youngest of what is expected to be a significantly larger Liberal Democrat contingent elected to Holyrood next year. Indeed, polling carried out both by professional pollsters and other political parties show the Scottish Liberal Democrats well in contention to become the largest party in the Scottish Parliament next May, winning in seats and regions across Scotland and I could actually be part of that. For myself and many others like me, there has never been a better time to be a Scottish Liberal Democrat. There is a real belief that our star is rising.